Scriptures come alive in Primary
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Spencer Fisher is only 5 years old, but he knows the story of the sons of Mosiah by heart.
"He can tell you the general idea of the story and he knows what happened to those men," explained Bill Fisher, Spencer's father. "I didn't know these Book of Mormon stories until I was in my teens. This experience has really imbedded these Book of Mormon stories into these children's lives."The experience that Fisher is talking about is a video project organized by Primary leaders in the West Jordan (Utah) 57th Ward. Almost 200 children in the ward chose, rehearsed and performed stories from the Book of Mormon that were recorded on videotape. Spencer played Ammon in his class presentation of the Lamanite mission of Mosiah's sons.
"The main objective behind the project was to help the children remember stories from the Book of Mormon," said Primary president Terry Cunningham.
In July, teachers started preparing for the skits, which were filmed Sept. 22 and 23. Classes chose which story they wanted to portray, teachers wrote the scripts, and then rehearsals began.
"Our Star A class (4-year-olds), which did the story about Laban and the brass plates, has been practicing for three months," said Sister Cunningham. "Their presentation was absolutely wonderful."
Twenty-five classes participated, with some classes combining efforts, to produce 11 skits of 10 to 20 minutes each. Dad's old robe, a family tent, tin-foil-covered brass plates, stuffed animals and potted plants were only a few of the around-the-house items converted to props, costumes, and scenery for the Primary activity.
When completed, the videotape will end with a statement which reads: "We, the children of the 57th Ward, believe these things to be true." Signatures of all 200 Primary children in the ward will follow.
The video will then be shown to the children during sharing time, Sister Cunningham said. "We're also working with some other ideas so that all the parents and other members of the ward can see it.
"Obviously, there is nothing professional about this video," she continued. "There were times when the children forgot lines, times when the camera didn't pick everything up. But the end project is sweet, there's a real spirit to it. And it has meant a lot to these children."
